why i'm not a Grinch, or being a Jew on Christmas

I hate Christmas. Yes, it is true, i said it. so please, retrieve your dropped jaw from the floor and just listen. I know that you, a perfectly average person in the US, do not understand how it is humanly possible, to dislike the magic of the season and whatever else it's supposed to carry. But you have to remember that I do not celebrate Christmas. And while for you, my Christian friend, Christmas has warmth, and meaning, and childhood memories of trees, presents, and fuzzy pajamas, for me, these are empty words. Rather, they are someone else's memories and traditions that I am constantly made feel guilty about not having. And these are empty memories for many people in this country. People who are not Christian. And i know you will argue over the fact that you, yourself, are not Christian, are agnostic and atheist, that while you were baptized at birth, served as an alter-boy and refused to have sex until you were 22 but then got drunk in college once, those are strict traditions of your past, of your parents, and you as a conscious and sexually active adult no longer prescribe to those beliefs, reject G-d and heaven and eternal salvation as you'd rather burn in hell anyways, Christmas is still a christian thing. It has christian roots, it celebrates a strictly (specifically) christian event, and is celebrated by christians around the world. because guess what? christians believe in jesus whose birth we celebrate on december 25th--our country's national holiday. and regardless of how religious you are now, or have been as a child, or the fact that your hippie parents never took you to church, the point is that the idea of christmas has everything to do with being a religious thing. and it is one, not all, religious thing that is tied to christianity. I'm not trying to belabor this religious point, i'm just trying to make an argument that if you or your parents or your family is not somehow 'christian', in a narrow or broad sense, unless you've ever celebrated a different religion, walked into a house of worship that did not bow to jesus or the virgin mary, ever filled out a college entrance form and specified something else, or ever been discriminated against, you personally or your family, for your traditions and practices, then you have ties to christmas. now when i say that i hate christmas, i dont hate all of christmas. i think the idea of having your family come home, to gather around a fire or a nice-smelling tree, to eat dinner together, to sing songs together and share gifts with each other is a lovely tradition. what i hate about christmas is the commercialism into which christmas has morphed. the fact that christmas sales start after halloween (halloween!! what the hell happened to Thanksgiving???), the fact that i cannot leave my house for fear of being run over by some crazy overzealous shopper desperately trying to obtain that dumb-ass toy knowing full well his kid will forget it in approximately 3.4 days after receiving it, the fact that i am subjected to crowds and assaults from all sides, is, well, annoying. and of course all of this madness happens to the tune of jingle bells, which permeates every single (yes, every single!) store, restaurant, and starbucks sending the entire populace into a schizophrenic twilight brain-wash (the one and only christmas song i like is 'carol of the bells', which is actually a Ukrainian song "schedrevik", just ask my mother). i sound angry don't i? the reason is because this mass consumption of christmas product is not for us, non-christians, or to avoid the religious affiliation many of you are trying to avoid, non-christmas celebrators. someone just asked me: "arent there any hannukah songs people sing?" "yes" "that's interesting because i do not know of any.".....thank you for proving my point. So a little about hannukah, or the festival of lights. Hannukah is celebrated on the 25th of Kislev, a month in the jewish lunar calendar. It celebrates the victory of Maccabees, ancient Hebrew warriors (actually, just a family of fighters), who defeated some Assyrian empire (pardon my ignorance) and recaptured the second jewish temple (the second temple being the temple which was destroyed shortly after Jesus' death, and signified the mass expulsion of jews from israel resulting in some 2000 year world-wide diaspora of jews; the part of it that remains now is the western (or the wailing) wall). once the temple was recaptured, the Maccabees wanted to rededicate the temple by lighting the ceremonial candle, the menorah, however, they only had enough oil for one candle, or one night. so they lit the candle and by g-d's miracle, if you believe in god, the candle stayed lit for eight days, until they were able to make or procure enough oil to keep it going. this jewish victory and the miracle that follows is what is celebrated as hannukah. hannukah, actually, is not a big deal. it is not a major jewish holiday. but it was made such some time in the 1970s because it coincides with christmas time and jews, i guess, wanted to feel more included in the holiday festivities. and also because jewish kids whined about not getting gifts like the rest of their friends (see, you WASPy brats). hannnukah is celebrated for 8 days among families, with lighting of a menorah (or more appropriately a hannukiah). although kids now get small gifts on each night (again, to keep up with the WASPy brats), in the ashkenazi tradition, kids received money (or hannukah-geld, which translated from yiddish literally means hannukah money). it is also traditional to eat foods that are fried in oil (oil, get it?) like latkes or doughnuts. but the point is none of it is hugely a big deal, and to say that 'dont you guys have hannukah' is just not the same. so there, now you know, and you can stop wishing me a merry christmas, or better, yet politely wondering if 'it's hannukah yet'. cause it is! and where the fuck is my sufganiyot?!

The bridesmaid dress saga

The following saga took place within the last 24h between me and my mother as a text exchange. My friend Beth is getting married (yay!) and invited me to participate (yay!). On Sunday she sent out an email with a few styles she liked and the color she wanted us to wear. For simplicity reasons, let's call it purple. So I go to the bridal store, where I find the required dresses to try on for size. I pick up whatever random color (ended up being navy, white, I mean, excuse me, champaign, and god-awful pink). I am then shepherded around the store by a very animated gay man who refers to me strictly as "Miss Alex honey" at all times, I have a temporary panic attack when I witness something akin to "say yes to the dress", complete with cheering relatives and sees of white, but I successfully try on the dresses and take pictures, which I immediately email to my friend-the bride and my mother for decision making support. My mom replies right away: "I like the white one, but you can really wear white to a wedding?!" "No you cannot, but the dresses are going to be purple" "well since you can't wear white, go with the navy one" " wait, but you said you liked the white one! The colors don't matter it's all purple" "why should it be purple?!" "...because those are the wedding colors. So you like the white one?" "Only if you can pull wearing white to the wedding"... I say nothing more. But the next day, I text her again before making the final purchase: "so should I buy the white one?" "Yes...I just really don't understand how it is going to become purple". This of course was followed by an exclamation of "are you totally crazy?" On my part. And this is why I love my mother.

fit bits

I recently acquired a fitbit. I debated this purchase for a while, but everyone has one and are so in love, so i finally caved in and got one. i hesitated to get it because i consider myself somewhat active, not like crazy marathon runner active, but you know more than the average american (except maybe in the winter time), so the utility of having a device attached to me that would tell me exactly how active i was seemed, well, redundant. I mean, if i'm running around clinic like a crazy person, do i really need to be reminded that i'm running around like a crazy person? and i've spent the entire day on the couch watching 'sex in the city' reruns in my yoga pants, do i need to be reminded of my lazy-ass behavior? no, times 2. but i think, ultimately, i was curious just how active i am, or how much craziness occurs in one clinic/OR day... the fitbit I got is the one that attaches to your clothing. it is not a wrist band (I can't wear wrist bands when operating), so it's slightly less awesome as it does not track down my sleep patterns. and since it's purchase, i've become quite paranoid about missing steps. getting in and out of the shower is tricky, since once i take it off, i feel bad about moving and taking steps which are no longer being tracked. getting dressed on the other hand has become a stationary activity, with specific items being put on first as to facilitate attachment of fitbit immediately and without delay. and since it's attached to my clothes, i feel like it gives me a certain curious look. as it is usually attached to the inside of my pants, the band people see when i pull on my hospital ID is kind of a mixture between a tiny pager and an insulin pump. so what have i learned? i burn approximately the same number of calories every night, regardless of whether i woke up to go to the bathroom several times (because apparently my bladder is aging) or whether i had half a bottle of wine before going to bed and passed out for the duration of my blissful tipsy sleep. turns out that my tiny apartment is way larger than i thought and at night when i aimlessly wander around picking things up and doing small chores i take quite a few steps. it's almost 50 steps just to get to the toilet! that's almost a work-out! what i've had trouble with is the calorie count. fitbit counts how many calories you've burned (how? i'm not sure), but since it's not smart enough to figure out exactly what and how much you've stuffed into your mouth, you have to manually put those things in. which is a problem, since apparently my diet is way crazy as it does not contain brand name pre-made items. for example, entering fruit is impossible! it gives you a list of 170 items related to the word 'peach' (peaches are in season, i eat a lot of them), from peach smoothies to peach pizza topping to delmonte half sliced frozen peaches. just a plain regular medium sized raw peach does not exist!! same with coffee: coffee apparently only has a caloric count if it's purchased from dunkin donuts or mcdonalds. and you can sort of substitute, i guess, i mean if you're drinking black coffee, i guess it doesnt matter if you're using a brand that is not your actual brand, as long as items and sizes somewhat match. but i personally feel guilty, depriving something like trader joe's string cheese from caloric fame and substituting the totally different sargento's brand. why should TJ's not be recognized in my diet! you can, of course, create your own specialized items, but that becomes too much of a hassle, since essentially every single thing i eat would have to be manually entered. so i just tend to skip that entirely and i'm pretty sure my fitbit thinks i'm starving, daily. the fitbit also clogs my mailbox with weekly counts of how much of done, the distance i've traveled and steps i've taken. like a kindergartner, i get a star when i walk a certain distance, or take a certain number of steps. makes me feel special. i havent lost any weight, but it's nice to know my fitbit loves me and supports me in all my fat-ass lazy glory. :)

Talking politics

This post is actually inspired by a lawyer husband of a colleague. I am no expert in politics, but he asked, so I figured the least i can do is put in my two cents. I'm talking about the situation in Ukraine. It has died down on the news a bit as it is no longer the novelty, but the fighting in its Eastern region remains. A bit of a historical background: Eastern Ukraine is a mining region. It is the industrial part full of coal and other mining minerals (I'd hate to embarrass myself and call it simply 'ore'). And because mining is hard work, dangerous, and pays well (well, better) this region has attracted people from other parts of what used to be the Soviet Union. This means that some people, not all, have not been originally from there, spoke Russian and not Ukrainian, and felt more ties with the Big Brother. This is not to say that Eastern Ukrainians are 'homeless', quite the opposite, many of them have lived there for decades, have settled there as their home (and even going back to the Russian Empire), but its proximity and its industrial strength do attract folks that well, are not farmers and are less tied to the land. Coupled with fear of complete Ukrainianization, this might stir some sentiment. Let me come back to this. This all started over the EU. Actually, this probably all started after people realized that Yanukovich is really a crook (I mean, this was known, but not the extent of it) and enjoys ruling as if he's solely in charge. So the EU commission was holding talks to possibly offer Ukraine EU membership, after numerous reforms and lots of clean up, but at least to consider is already tremendous. This is what people wanted and the President promised that they would proceed with talks. Only to then completely ignore the promise and people's desire and completely halt back (because proceeding with joining the EU would anger Russia, and I will come back to this as well). So people went to the streets. Quietly and peacefully they built the Maidan (Maidan Nezalezhnosti, which in Ukrainian means Independence square, is the main square of Kiev, the capital). People wouldn't disband, they demanded referendums, then presidential re-election, and the president got sick of this and started using force to attempt to forcefully take the people down. This is where I have to make a disclaimer: there are many news sources and the media and the reports that one hears or sees about Ukraine are all very conflicting, especially when one compares Russian against Ukrainian and international sources, so what I'm presenting may not be all correct, but this is what I gather. The clashes with authorities and the police got more and more violent, finally reaching full blown fighting in the streets (feel free to peruse YouTube) and the president finally just ran away (no literally, fled in a helicopter to Russia). His mansion was exposed and turns out he indeed stole a shit ton of money. Where am I going with this? Well, the whole power revolution, then led to a referendum in Crimea. The referendum, however, was preceded by this somewhat silent military take over. This is clue number one: the claim is that Crimeans want to be part of Russia. This is partially motivated by the fact that Crimeans are a diverse group, but largely Russian. This is partially motivated by the fact that in light of violence on Maidan, other sections, and i mean Ukrainian Nationalist sections, also made their presence known and the backlash of nationalism and anti-Russian-ness (because that's what the president used to be) made people scared. Additionally, Ukraine, economically, is not solid, and after years of corruption, has made little progress, so the temptation of economic stability added a lot of fuel to this whole separation. A lot. And I think this fuel is what then fired the other Eastern Ukrainian regions. The promise of better wages and some stability and protection of Big Brother (here, I mean Putin) as well as fear that the crazy Ukrainian nationalists will kill the entire Russian speaking population mobilized some folk. The problem is, it is unclear how much of the civilian Easter Ukrainian population actually wants this. Yes, the news reports from Russia continue to show simple eastern Ukrainian citizens 'just defending their home', but it is hard to understand from what the simple ukrainian citizens defending themselves and their families. Additionally, I'm not sure where a simple citizen can suddenly acquire anti-tank weapons and missile launching equipment. I dont have that in my backyard. Russia swears up and down that they are not involved, but the simple citizens, when interviewed, seem to be from somewhere else (I am referring to allegations here that the majority of eastern Ukrainian fighters are Chechen hires) and the fact that coffins of dead eastern Ukrainian simple citizens for some reason end up crossing the border into Russia, makes it even more suspicious. It remains unclear if Russia is involved. But why would it be? Russia certainly has plenty of gas, coal, and whatever else, so it obviously doesnt need the Ukrainian resources and acquiring them will unlikely make a difference. Likely, Russian interests lie less with actual territory but the idea of Russian influence and maintaining Ukraine in its zone of influence, rather than losing it to the EU (the gas line to Europe does run through Ukraine). The region has less significance than Crimea, which is coveted for its access to sea, but still much power can be gained from de-powering Ukrainian government. And the question of eastern Ukraine wanting its independence is also confusing to me. Why would a tiny little portion of the country seek sovereignty? Is it really plausible that eastern Ukrainians really fear disfranchisement? Yes, the threat of Ukrainian language as the national language is scary if you're predominantly Russian speaking, but I think, it's also valid. Additionally, no one is going to yell at you for speaking Russian and not Ukrainian (trust me, I get away with speaking as much Russian and not Ukrainian as I can, since i'm embarrassed about my Ukrainian accent). Large cities, the capital, and especially the eastern regions remain and will remain russian-speaking, and that's fine. But national documents should be signed in Ukrainian. Maybe the fear of nationalist movement is really strong, but it seems that the main motivation of this revolt is financially driven: Russia promises higher standard of living, higher wages, and higher social security. And it remains unclear how many of the actual eastern Ukrainians are motivated by this to shoot down military helicopters of their own (ukrainian) country with their meager home missile-launchers they have in their garage.

A good listener

Lovely Friday morning. I take a walk to sit at a cafe and enjoy some coffee. There is no one here as it is early, other than this dude. Tall, white, and to use medical terms "well groomed, in no apparent distress". I sit behind him. Behind him! He turns around to first comment on his pastry. Then, breaks into the story...we're sitting by the windows. The windows are open, which means that the traffic outside is preventing me from hearing about two thirds of what he is saying. Not that I care to begin with. I take out a book, my phone, I am fully engaged in my reading materials, something, anything. That apparently is no longer the social sign of "please don't bother me". So I am forced to somewhat politely listen. "Some guy, owns billions, mansion in the north shore, totally screwed me. I worked for him. He took me in, his own family, hyper sexual, you have to be if you have 9 kids. Damn Catholics, the Italians kill everyone, the Greeks want him dead, so do the Italians. What do you do? Oh you're a doctor. That's amazing, but also probably sad at times, you do the best you can. I was victimized, hurt, almost died and all because if this guy." I can't hear anything. "He turned on me, wanted me dead. I'm going to report this, I mean this shit doesn't happen, but it's a like a news story. Shit, reporters can make money of this story. I should do triathlons, I am pretty athletic. I ended up on hands and knees, with all the hospital bills, this was after my first child was born. I mean who does that after their own child is born, promises a house, gives me money and then screws me over." I am trying to write things, not paying attention, doesn't matter. "His own child, raped upstairs as I'm entertaining him in Christmas. Something you have to let go of the pride, pride gets in the way." Truck outside, bus outside, I'm literally mimicking his own animation because I can't hear. "But I mean he tried to kill me. I like to sell cars. They think I'm in Maine. I worked my way back, worked part time and all, marketing and sales. You can sell cars on eBay. The power of the internet. Man, I really like Gold Coast, you can drive this beautiful convertible." Make it stop! "And the police won't do anything about this guy, I mean when I went to them, they arrested me. I am a victim of police brutality, I was hand-cuffed!!" I can feel my own anxiety building up, this is terribly socially awkward. "I love that area by the united center. Are you a Blackhawks fan? Yeah it's nice, I wonder how many people go missing in Chicago." I take out my iPad and start typing what he's saying. "You know how they killed people, these Italians? All these meat factories. I mean, who comes out in the middle of night driving a truck and wearing latex gloves. And they take the gloves off afterwards. Look at that beautiful machine!" There is a guy who sits at the table next to us and keeps shooting me confused looks. Yes, thank you, super weird! "My own mother died. And I don't want him hurting me. But they're going to kill him, they are. They think I'm in Maine." I can't just get up and leave right? I haven't even finished my coffee! Oh my god make it stop! "I made all this money with suction cups, you wouldn't leave your family would you? I mean they drugged this girl, seizures, she's been misdiagnosed, they're all liable! I want to go to Greece, maybe next year, and visit that place where "300" happened. Sick asshole, his own fucking blood line!" What about me screams 'talk to me'?? What is happening?? "Man, look at this cheesecake, looks just like the picture. I biked all the way down California, and all I could feel was like those boys in Iraq, like someone is going to shoot at you. I mean it is crazy, this lady came to my house, searching, and I knew she came back again the next day, just went around the other way. I mean, she is a sexual predator." I can't see the tv screen from this angle, but apparently me looking back and forth for the screen is not an indication to stop talking, why won't he stop talking?? This is what Asperger's must feel like: complete and total social anxiety. "I'm going to get a bird, I think I should get a bird, a talking bird. Are you Greek? I'm English and French. The French are great ice skaters. I felt like I was in a different country because of their accents, it was the most bizarre thing I've seen in my life." Why won't he leave?? How do I get out of this tangential ramble?? "I think I'm going to buy a hat today. They didn't want us to win, they called offsides but we should have won the cup again. You don't see any arcades anymore. Wouldn't it be fun to see pinball in Greektown? I mean, my life is really fucked, don't you think it's fucked?? If you're ever wheezing, go to navy pier, to the botanical gardens, to escape the smog. Fireworks are on Wednesday. Maine is beautiful. It's all about inheritance nowadays, it's Betty Davis' last movie, and that's hard to do with a small hook like that. Well, thanks for listening." And just like that, he's gone. Gone. So much for quiet coffee. Sent from my iPad

the first rule of fight club is we dont talk about fight club

The first rule of fight club is we don't talk about fight club. So I guess i'm going to break the rule. In a few days I graduate from my Ob/Gyn residency. It's been a long 4 years, and at the end of it all, instead of excitement, I am more anxious than anything. For those of you who know me well, I dont normally talk about my feelings, so let me try. You can't really describe residency: this is something you have to live through. My own mother, to this day, cannot get my schedule or my call straight. She continues to refer to Maternal Fetal Medicine or high risk OB as pathology of pregnancy. And residencies, in general, are hard, and Ob/Gyn is one of the hardest residencies. I say this not to be arrogant, or dismiss how hard others work, but simply to point out that if for some reason I have failed to keep in touch, pay my bills on time, or do the dishes, it's because i've been involved in what can only be described as slave labor. For the past 4 years, I have worked for less than minimum wage, mainly, because for the past 4 years, i have worked on average 80hrs/wk and if you divide out my wages (and subtract the student loans) i would have been better off working at McDonalds. For the past 4 years, I have learned to go without sleep, food, or bathroom breaks. I have learned that a crash csection when you've been at work for 22 hours is not so bad, as the adrenaline totally wakes you up so that you can then go and round on your unsuspected cancer patient. I have learned that if you stop drinking water, your dehydrated body no longer produces urine, and the additional sweat you produce while retracting someone's pannus, guarantees that your bladder doesnt explode. i have learned that a cup of coffee is just as good as, if not better than, a sandwich adn the crackers you find to feed your patients are not dry but tasty and delicious. Obviously i'm exaggerating...sort of. What made it possible was the fact that i enjoy what i do and the fact that i was part of a resident family. Not sleeping through the night was easier when you threw a dance part on L&D in the middle of the night. Seeing a useless consult was easy because you got to bitch about it and complain about other services (please stop officially consulting us about normal menstrual cycles). Clinic and non-compliant, ueber-late patients ran faster because someone brought snacks. There was camaraderie and structure in misery. i dont like change, and the idea of lack of structure (and the addition of free time) freaks me out a bit. the idea of losing the company of a family, equally tired and over-caffeinated resident family, makes me not want to leave and just show up to work on monday. In reality, residency wasnt so bad. surviving residency, emerging from its trenches is rewarding in the skills i acquired in this emerging process, but more importantly, it's knowing that 7 of us survived together, sometimes bitter and whiny, a little sweaty and definitely a little sleepy, makes it ok to celebrate. Cheers!

The Winter Olympics opening ceremonies: abridged

I'm watching the Olympic opening ceremonies. You are probably not. That's ok because I will tell you what you missed. First, a little about Sochi. It is a small resort, i mean, fancy resort, won a bid to host the Olympics. Imagine if the Winter Olympics were coming to Martha's Vineyard. Most of the people in Russia cannot afford to vacation in Sochi, but suddenly overnight, or more like within a 7 year span, a huge metropolis was constructed to become an international arena. Kind of a tough job, so it's no surprise really that the plumbing doesnt work. Also, it's like 50 degrees there, at its worst: not exactly winter olympics central. But whatever, the opening ceremonies are happening and they are as follows: The flying girl was kind of cool. She is currently the coolest 5th grader in the whole country. That's like a lot. Like seriously a lot. As was the alphabet game (when they link the letter of the alphabet to some clearly Russian thing). Except that the alphabet is not Latin but Cyrillic and the letters don't match up. And some of the 'words' they decided to link to letters, although meant to represent Russian pride, are completely lost on anyone not familiar with Russian culture/history. Things like "Khokhloma" mean nothing to an average person, and the beautiful hedgehog in the fog (which is actually an entirely political anti-communist 80s cartoon character) is wasted as a comparison. Sad day for the hedgehog. Additionally, great people like Nabokov, Chagall, or Kandinsky, although Russian-born, definitely left the country. Like a while back, because of its suckiness. OK, fine, political unrest. But Chagall was a Jew and therefore, hated in the Russian Empire, and Nabokov wrote strictly in English (other than a few short stories he wrote while in hiding in Germany written in Russian about Germany--stories that no one but a Russian literature major (read: me) have ever read). So they, I think, can hardly be considered "the Russian pride". Putin has aged. Also, maybe has gotten some botox. Maybe. just saying. I think over his multiple years of President, Head Minister, President, Head Minister, no wait, President role playing. Anyone else is confused as to why the monastery choir is singing the national anthem? ok, just checking. Next the parade of nations, which by the way, is damn long. Azeri figure skater is damn hot. I probably should say this about a conservatively Muslim nation representative. I'm sorry. Albania made it? really?! that's ok because the tiny Andorra has more people than Albania. So I was initially totally thrown back by the number of tropical countries that geographically have no access or relation to the the snow or ice, other than the ice found in the fridge, yet somehow manage to produce all these 'winter olympians'. How does one do that??? Here is how one becomes a winter olympian from the Caribbean: you first are born to wealthy parents. You then move and get your education in some other (read: better) country, like Canada or the US. And while getting your Ivy league degree, you participate in some sport, like skiing. You dont have to be super good because, hey, in the end, you can just compete for the tiny Bermuda or Tortola as the only athlete from that country. Lamest country name award goes to Macedonia, or "The former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia". Almost 20 years later we still, as a country, apparently, cannot agree on a name. See: LAME! Much respect to the German team for standing up to Russian anti-gay laws and wearing a rainbow uniform. The amazing rainbow technicolor coats make a political stand as well as a confirmation to every David Hasselhof stereotype ever. Good thing the Iranian team allowed winter hats to substitute head scarves for its women athletes, good thing the Irish team thought that Sochi was in the jungle and wore camouflage. As did Ukraine. It is also unclear as to why the Spanish team chose to wear a French berets, I guess, maybe in the spirit of international sportsmanship. Also unclear why the Lithuanian team was dressed by Kermit the frog. The worst, however, was the American uniform. Clearly, the team, prior to showing up to the Olympics, attended an ugly sweater party. It is as if the whole team was part of a Ralph Lauren commercial, where the American flag threw up all over the scene. It's ok, at least we are represented as a team. India is not. Its athletes are marching under the "olympic" flag because the country lost its privileges for being too corrupt. They were probably simply trying to apply for a visa. And why are Chinese carrying Russian flags?! Probably, as sign of respect. Maybe. But maybe as a symbol of an impeding economic take-over for total russo-chinese domination...evil shenanigans. And the entire walk was choreographed to bad-ass techno. If you'd like to hire the DJ who spun this event, you'd have to contact him in some form of google.ru, as he is clearly Russian and incorporating some pretty historical Russian film music into his mixes. Why techno? who the f knows. But it is ironic that with all the anti-gay propaganda, the Russian team walks out to a song by Tatu--a 'lesbian' artist couple. I do appreciate the incorporation of the literary tradition in the form of scenes from Tolstoy, with beautiful dancing from the Russian ballet. That is truly the spiritual and cultural side of Russia. The walk through russian history is a good idea, to introduce the world to russia and all, but is somewhat inaccurate. Like the whole beatnik era and the rock-n-roll dress, which was actually illegal during the Soviet Union. But the video narration of the history includes such prolific actors as the one from the oscar winning "night watch", so i guess that makes it better. Whoever is narrating this clearly knows his stuff, by that I mean, historically and culturally. As Russia offers its peace dove as a swan, of swan lake, performed by a principal ballet dancer, let's hope the olympics remain a fair competitive display of talent and sportsmanship. go usa!